Have you met with a road bully before?
Do you know how to handle these people?
Saturday, July 14, 2007 by 121motor
We all talk about road bullies, how to recognize them
and what are the damages they have caused to other drivers on the road. Many of
us have read and heard of reports of ¡°Road Bullies¡± or ¡°Hell Drivers¡± and even
personally stumble upon bad experiences with these people. Road bullies are drivers with violent
behavior, exhibited on the road, often as a manifestation of stress, impatience,
lack of consideration to others and more often when anger takes a toll. Today,
road bully is one of the factors contributing to the nation¡¯s traffic
fatalities.
Road bullies are uncivilized drivers and a menace on
the road. Very often, they express their anger and frustration to other drivers
through foul languages and gestures. Some made it worse by threatening and
hurting other¡¯s wellbeing. Here are some suggestions to be taken to handle road
bullies.
Be a responsible and considerate driver
Sometimes, people get annoyed in the traffic.
Nevertheless, we can prevent the annoyance spiraling out of control to
ourselves and others. There and then, keep in mind your primary objective on
the road. Do not create unnecessary trouble for others and provoke them to
become a road bully.
Have patience and tolerance
Do not be panic when you encounter road bullies. It
only makes it easier and more fun for them to bully you. It is also important
to control your emotions. It is normal to be frustrated when being harassed on
the road by uncivilized and unreasonable drivers. We may ask ourselves, ¡°Why is
this happening to me?!¡± However, please bear in mind that road bullies are
people with violent behavior and often unable to control neither their emotions
nor actions. Therefore, we should act smart in dealing with these road bullies.
Refrain from revealing your emotions, be calm and do not give any single
opportunity to the road bully to further harass and assault you. Do not show
your frustrations to the road bully, as this may only accelerate their
aggressiveness and may in turn lead to violence. Some victims of road bullies
were beaten to death. It would be silly losing our emotions and risk ourselves
to these road bullies. Stay cool and they will eventually get bored and leave.
When there is more than one person
At a situation when nothing is predictable, you are
all by yourself and you see more than one person which could easily harm you
seriously, leave! At times, we all want to get even and although this could be
satisfying, somehow the best way to handle this situation is to cut off the
road bullies¡¯ fun and disengage. Do not attempt to compete with them. You will
never know if it could change your life, or shorten it!
Never hurts to say ¡°sorry¡±
Although there are countless ways to express
dissatisfaction to road bullies, it never hurts to say ¡°Sorry¡± or to suggest
settling the matter amicably. Something as low-tech as this can go a long way
to prevent further assaults, especially if you are wrong in the very first
place.
The car¡¯s plate number
Note the car¡¯s plate number. Memorize, write it
somewhere or use your cell phone with a built-in camera to capture. Make sure
they see you doing this. Then make a police report and say were you assaulted
by the person who drove off in the car.
Police station
If the road bully is tailing your car, drive to the
nearest police station and make a report immediately. Be careful when leaving
the police station. The road bully may still be around.
Your cell phone
If you notice a road bully approaching, take out your
cell phone, dial and start talking, whether you have or have not dialed to
anyone. When you are talking on the phone, it makes you less of a target. You
are also in a much better position to call for help if the matter escalates. If
your cell phone has a built-in camera and video recorder, record and shoot the
incident, particularly when the road bully starts to do damage to your car.
This will be helpful when filing for police report even though shooting while
actively being harassed may be difficult.
Stay in your car
In the event the road bully forces their way and made
you stop your car, lock the car doors and do not get down from your car for any
negotiation. Road bullies don¡¯t have the same mind.